As part of preventive excavations, ahead of a construction project, a huge medieval cemetery was discovered in Bourg-Charente, a town located around ten kilometers southwest of Cognac.
ANNE LACAUD
Toe century, the castellany of Bourg was one of the most important lordships of Angoumois. The Romanesque church of Saint-Jean-Baptiste, listed in 1913, dates from the 11the-XIIe centuries. It is not surprising that nearby there was a burial area from the Carolingian era and the early Middle Ages. More surprising is that his memory has completely disappeared and that nothing has been mentioned about it for centuries.
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As part of preventive excavations, ahead of a construction project, a huge medieval cemetery was discovered in Bourg-Charente, a town located around ten kilometers southwest of Cognac.ANNE LACAUD
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As part of preventive excavations, ahead of a construction project, a huge medieval cemetery was discovered in Bourg-Charente, a town located around ten kilometers southwest of Cognac.ANNE LACAUD
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As part of preventive excavations, ahead of a construction project, a huge medieval cemetery was discovered in Bourg-Charente, a town located around ten kilometers southwest of Cognac.ANNE LACAUD
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As part of preventive excavations, ahead of a construction project, a huge medieval cemetery was discovered in Bourg-Charente, a town located around ten kilometers southwest of Cognac.ANNE LACAUD
ANNE LACAUD
As part of preventive excavations, ahead of a construction project, a huge medieval cemetery was discovered in Bourg-Charente, a town located around ten kilometers southwest of Cognac.
ANNE LACAUD
As part of preventive excavations, ahead of a construction project, a huge medieval cemetery was discovered in Bourg-Charente, a town located around ten kilometers southwest of Cognac.
In 2021, a preventive archeology diagnosis was carried out, a necessary operation before considering the creation of a subdivision on an area of 2,700 square meters dedicated to vines. The existence of a vast necropolis of around 400 burials was then found. Jérôme Sourisseau, mayor of Bourg-Charente and president of the Grand-Cognac Agglomeration, declared that he was “very surprised by this exciting discovery which had the immediate consequence of delaying the completion of the subdivision and launching the Municipality in the search for the financing of the excavations, for a total amount of 720,000 euros. »
In Poitiers, the remains will be washed and examined carefully
At least 470 burials
Since September 9 and until December 19 (latest deadline), Inrap – the National Institute for Preventive Archaeological Research – has been hard at work with a team of technicians and experts to inventory, photograph and recover the bones in the 470 or more burials on the site.
David Martins, head of research, and Michaël Gobron, anthropologist, shared their discoveries.
“It is a medieval cemetery, parish or not. The burials on three levels correspond to the period of the 9the they have XIIIe century. They indicate a dense funerary occupation. The bodies lie on their backs, with one exception, their heads to the west, probably in a shroud, perhaps dressed. The pits are simply dug into the ground, with a few limestone rubble on top; three cases of stone formwork were identified. Adult women and men in large numbers, but also babies and children aged 9/12. Sex, age at death, pathologies and trauma are already discernible in the field; but all this will be refined in Poitiers where the remains will be washed and examined carefully.”
